Mylissa, Mylitta

(118 words)

(Μυλίσσα/Mylíssa, Μυλίττα/Mylítta). Hdt. 1,131 reports on prostitution in Babylon in conjunction with the cult of M., the Babylonian Aphrodite, in which every unmarried Babylonian woman supposedly had to participate. This was the cult of the Babylonian goddess Mulliltu/Mullittu (Assyrian Mulissu; Aramaic mlsṯ; older reading Ninlil), the wife of Enlil (see [2] for earlier evidence from Babylonia). Hsch. also cites M. In Nicolaus of Damascus (FGrH 2, 332 F 4) she is encountered as Molís (Μολίς). In late antique Mandaic incantations she appears as Mulit.